Saving Simply: Doing it Yourself, Home Decor
When it comes to doing stuff in our home there isn’t much I won’t try. In our 17 years of marriage we are in our 10th residence, no my husband is not in the military. 
In the beginning we moved numerous times. We rented and when a much better deal came up we jumped on it. We finally purchased our first home, that we are living in now, 5 years ago this month. Over the years, even in our rentals there are so many things involving our home decor that I did myself in order to save money.
I am not going to pretend it all was easy or that I enjoyed every second of it but I really had to weigh the options to make my decision.
Over the years I have done more painting that anyone should ever have to. I have put down carpet and I have pulled up carpet. I have put up a new ceiling with the help of my mom and sister and we also put down a linoleum floor together. I have wired light fixtures and ceiling fans all by myself. I have sewn curtains and pillows. I have refurbished old furniture and accessories to give them new life again. I have sealed and painted over wallpaper and with the help of my husband sanded, stained and lacquered our hard wood floor. I painted the exterior of one of the houses we lived in. (it was small) I have had many successes and I have had the occasional failure but I have never been afraid to try. I have saved a ton of money by not hiring someone every time I need something done. The internet is amazing. You can watch free youtube videos all day long that explain how to do things.
The key though is to know your limits! Know when no matter how hard you try it isn’t something you will be able to do. I knew I had to have someone gut my bathroom and replace the fixtures, thankfully it was my Grandpa and I paid very little. I know that I have to hire my Brother in Law to paint the exterior of the house we are living in now, it is way too big for me to handle.
It doesn’t save you money if it is something beyond your limits.
What have you done at home yourself to save money?
Related posts:
- Saving Simply: Cooking at Home
- Saving Simply: Cutting Back on High Priced Beverages
- Learning to Be a Do-It-Yourselfer Can Save You Some Dough
- Saving Simply: Turn off the Lights
- Saving Money By Doing it Yourself: Start Small
I made my son a chair: http://www.ana-white.com/2011/04/james-play-kitchen-chair
We’re about to buy a house and I’m hoping to build more furniture from Ana White’s website to save us thousands of dollars. Eventually we’ll embark on ripping up carpets to replace them with flooring ourselves.
Joanna that is awesome! The only thing I have built thus far was a wooden for our dog. In one of the places we lived the one of the doorways was extra wide and I looked at the oversized baby gates and they were ridiculously priced. So I built one. It wasn’t perfect but it worked just fine the whole time we lived there.